Former Zynga Boston Employees To Launch New Game Called ‘Letter Rush’

It's the first game from Proletariat Inc., the company to rise out of Zynga's ashes.

Letter Rush
Photo via Proletariat

In October, Zynga, the social-gaming company behind Farmville, closed its Boston office and laid off 50 employees. It was especially troubling because Zynga had created their Boston office out of local companies Conduit Labs and Floodgate Entertainment—which they promptly ran into the ground. And unfortunately, it was just another sad day for the local video game industry, coinciding with the closing of Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios and Harmonix (makers of Guitar Hero) struggling to return to relevance.

Well, today, we have some glorious, green shoots. Video-game website Joystiq reports that five former Zynga Boston employees joined forces and started Proletariat Inc., and are releasing “Letter Rush,” an “arcade-style word-find game,” next week:

“We have all known each other and worked with one another for so long that we’ve developed an organic way of making games together,” said CEO Seth Sivak. Prior to Zynga Boston, members of the team had worked at Harmonix, Turbine and Insomniac. “We all want to make successful games, both creatively and as a business. This team has been on both sides and knows how to find that balance.”

Moral of the story: Some good actually did come out of Farmville.